Chapter 9
And They Finally Talk
Neither Kuda nor Kyra were sure of what to say at that moment. They both just stood there in the pouring rain staring at him-Bell Cranel, who still hung on Alystar's shoulder. He too, had no idea what to say at that moment. Awkwardly, he looked at the ground as his mind drew a blank on what he should say. The collective uncertainty between the three of them created a silent and awkward air around them all.
It was Alystar, who grew impatient with it all, who broke the silence.
"So, just to clear up any confusion, Bell the guy is Kuda Zeldon, our familia captain, and Kyra Slavis, his could-do-better wife. Kuda and Kyra, this kid is Bell Cranel."
Kuda scowled at him, clearly not amused by his best friend's uncharacteristic joke. Kyra, on the other hand, was looking uncomfortable, if not a bit ashamed of something. "Okay, why did you bring him out here, Alystar?"
"I was going out to get you both, so I asked him if he wanted to tag along."
"You didn't force him, did you?"
"He didn't," Bell blurted out loudly, surprising the trio of top class adventurers. "He asked me if I would come out with him. I said yes. It was my choice. He did nothing wrong. So, please don't blame him."
The trio that knew each other better than anyone else all exchanged glances before their faces softened and they relaxed. This must be how their mentors felt when they were still young.
"Okay," Kuda sighed. "It isn't as though I was blaming anybody."
"I felt blamed," Alystar said casually.
"You be quiet," Kuda scowled.
"Humph," Alystar merely grunted. Bell found that odd. He didn't seem to revere his supposed captain, but he definitely cared for him. If he didn't he wouldn't have gone to all the trouble of finding him. Still, there appeared to be a kind of hostility between, not exactly hateful… he didn't really know how to explain it. All he could conclude with some confidence was that they had a somewhat complex relationship. "Well, I only came here to bring the kid here."
Alystar took Bell off his back, cloak and all, revealing the clothes he wore underneath. He wore a silver, buttoned up coat over a white shirt and dark pants. At his waist was a long, sheathed Bowie knife. The beastman placed on the ground, purposefully putting him in front of Kuda and Kyra.
"I'm heading back," he said, not caring that he was completely unprotected from the rain. "You guys do what you want."
"Wait, Alystar," Kuda ordered authoritatively. "There's an emergency."
"What kind of an emergency?" Alystar's eyes narrowed. He knew Kuda we'll enough to know that he wouldn't lie about emergencies no matter what.
"Kyra," Kuda gestured to his wife, who had been silent since Alystar arrived with Bell. She was completely focused on the young boy, so she had tuned out the other two men. "Kyra!"
"What?" She said snapping back to reality.
"Tell Alystar what you told me."
"Oh, right," Kyra nodded, refocusing herself. Now was not the time to be lost in thought. Lives could be at stake, after all. She explained her theory to Alystar about how she thought the goblins' behavior was irregular and how it was possible that they were being controlled or influenced by a third party. Specifically, a tamer with the ability to control monsters remotely. Alystar listener intently. He paid complete attention to her because she was Kyra. Long before their familia fell from grace, she was practically the brains of their generation. Her mind and perception was sharper than the finest blade and cut through even the thickest fog of obscurity.
"I see… so you think those goblins that were here earlier were a sort of scouts sent to test the waters and that an even bigger threat could show up. Is that right?" As he summarized Kyra's theory, he couldn't help but grimace when he looked at her. Not because of the potential situation (they had dealt with far worse), but because of what he saw when he looked at her. Her hair. Once upon a time it was the color of freshly fallen snow and just as beautiful, but now it was tainted with cheap black dye. Of course, she was still beautiful. She would look good even if she shaved off her entire head (which he honestly would have preffered to what she did), but she wasn't Kyra like this.
And Kuda? His eyes which were like rubies were now eclipsed behind a pair of lenses. It infuriated the King of Beasts to see his two oldest companions hide themselves like that.
Kuda the Hero.
Kyra the Thunderstorm.
Alystar the Werewolf/Beast King.
Such dramatic, over-the-top second names, yet so fitting when used for the three of them. They were the face of their generation. The strongest trio. The greatest three. But now they were shells of their former selves. The One Eyed Black Dragon hadn't just killed their mentors and weakened them beyond the point of repair. It utterly destroyed them at the most fundamental level. Alystar cared not for their lost status, or the fact that the rest of the world viewed them as failures for not being able to complete the Three Great Quests. He just wanted his friends to feel better and to return to how they used to be. It may be a lost cause. They may never go back to how they once were, but he wouldn't give up, because if it was the other way around, they wouldn't give up on him.
"Basically," she nodded.
"It sounds like a reach, honestly, but coming from you, Kyra, I got no choice but to believe you. Okay, what do we do?"
"Gather everyone," Kuda said. "We'll explain the situation and respond accordingly. We'll get the mayor involved as well since there's a good chance that other nearby villages were attacked as well and he will probably know the heads of those villages and can get in contact with them."
"Okay, I'll do that," Alystar said, shoving Bell forward to them that the boy fell off his feet and the two of them instantly crouched down to catch him. "In the meantime, you guys say what you want."
"What?" Kuda and Kyra gaped at him incredulously. They could not believe that he would even suggest such a thing in the precipice of a potential emergency.
Alystar glared at them intently, not allowing any back tlk. "I did not run around this village a dozen times over in the pouring rain for nothing. I will go tell everyone your theory. You guys stay here and talk or whatever, then come over to the doctor's house in 10 minutes. Understood?"
Neither one of them responded, unable to to come up with an argument in the face of Alystar's glare. They knew the werewolf well enough to know that he would not take no for an answer.
"Good," He said, taking their silence as confirmation that they would do as he commanded. He turned his attention back to Bell, who had been silent since they had found Kuda and Kyra. He had some commentary but the intensity of the adults' discussion made him keep his mouth closed. "Later, kid."
Without waiting for a response, Alystar disappeared in a swift blur, generating enough force to cause a strong gust that blew away the rainfall, and their cloaks and hair. Bell began to realize that the speed the werewolf was capable of was far greater than he had thought. He was almost positive by the time he finished his thoughts, Alystar would already have made it back to Dr. Oleson's home.
And he'd be right.
"Honestly," Kuda sighed after Alystar left. "Was he ever that bossy before?"
"You tell me," Kyra replied. "You've known him longer."
"By like three months."
Technically speaking, it was true that Kuda Knew Alystar longer than anybody else in the Zeus remnants, save for Barren, but Kyra had joined the familia just 3 months after he did. Compared to the decades they had all known each other, that was irrelevant to Kuda.
Kuda turned his attention to Bell, who had been silently looking at them. "You're… Bell, right?"
"Y-Yessir!" Bell said, startled at being addressed for some reason. "I'm Bell Cranel… and you both are Kyra-san and Kuda-san, right?"
"Yes," Kuda said smiling and rubbing his hand through his hair awkwardly. Bell focused on their faces, since the rest of their bodies were covered by their cloaks. Kuda and Kyra both looked younger than he'd expected. For whatever reason, he'd expected that they'd look more rough and hard like veterans that had survived countless battles. Then again, Alystar hadn't looked like that either, but in the short time Bell had known him, he could just tell he had been through a lot. Them too, he realized. They were both tall. Bell could only reach their waists. Kuda had a soft, handsome, yet somehow kind face. The hair sticking out from his hood was black, just like his eyes, except somehow his eye color didn't seem natural. Kyra was beautiful. Her face was well defined and perfectly symmetrical. Her hair was black, but like Kuda's eyes, the color didn't seem natural to Bell. Perhaps it was his imagination? The only illumination was the magic stone street lamps. Perhaps that also explained the odd and complex feelings he had since laying eyes on them. Like he had been waiting his whole life to meet people he had never even seen til a few moments ago.
Maybe they knew him from when he was little? They knew his grandfather, apparently, so it wasn't a far fetched idea. Perhaps they knew his parents…? Perhaps… they-
"We should go inside," Kuda suggested, interrupting Bell's train of thought. "To your house, I mean, Bell. Also, sorry that we entered it without permission. We were just trying to get out of the rain and, um, we thought it would be okay since we knew your grandfather."
"Oh, it's okay," Bel said. "Grandpa wouldn't've cared. Besides, you both were his friends, right?"
"Yeah, sort of."
They went inside Bell's home, their cloaks soaking wet due to being out in the rain for so long with the cloak Bell was given to by Alystar the most wet of all due to them running around the village looking for Kyra and Kuda. The insides of the cloaks, however, were as dry as they always had been. A testament to its waterproof quality.
"I'll start a fire," Kuda announced, heading for the fireplace, which luckily had unused wood in it. He knelt down in front of the fireplace. Bell tilted his head, confused. Kuda didn't have any kind of lighter or fire starter, so how could he actually light a fire? His query was answered when Kuda recited something. "I summon the power of the flame. The Blaze."
Kuda flicked his right thumb and index finger at the wood, a wisp of red light shot out from them and the firewood on fire, illuminating the room that was dark a moment ago.
"Ahhh!" Bell gasped excitedly, his eyes widened with childlike wonder at Kuda. "Did he just use magic?!"
"Yes and no," Kyra, who stood next to Bell, answered. "Kuda didn't recite his full spell. His spell is actually quite long. If he did recite the whole thing, he might've accidentally lit up this whole house on fire."
"Ooooh!" Bell didn't find that frightening, rather he found it exciting. His fascination with magic was that great. Kyra couldn't help but find that endearing. She found the urge to pick him up and kiss his face welling up inside of her, but held it down and continued her explanation.
"There's an ability that skilled magic users possess called concurrent chanting, which basically allows them to move while reciting the spell, but what Kuda did was different from that. He only recited the first line and also drew upon the necessary amount of power he needed to accomplish his task. In this case, lighting a fire. It proves to be very handy when camping out or cooking. Like a human lighter. Very cheap!"
"Is that all I am?" Kuda growled, annoyed.
"Cool!" Bell squealed, his eyes still sparkling. Kyra figured her explanation went over his head. "It's so cool that you can use magic, Kuda-san!"
"It is pretty great," he grinned appreciatively. "You know, Kyra can use magic, too."
"Really?!" Bell looked up at Kyra, his eyes practically sparkling at her. Taken aback, Kyra averted her gaze from his and cleared her throat.
"It isn't anything special. Besides that, I meant to ask you before, but how are you, exactly? You were really injured when we brought you to the doctor's house."
"Oh, Alystar-san gave me a healing potion so I could go with him to find you guys."
"I thought that was the case."
Bell had broken bones when she last saw him, but now he was moving like he had never been attacked. Either Clarabeth or one of the healers had used their recovery magic to fully heal him, or someone had given him a potion.
"Also, um…"
"Hm?"
"I forgot that it was you who saved us from the goblins that attacked us. Sorry, I should've said this earlier, but…" Bell lowered his head to her. "Thank you for saving my life, Kyra-san."
"I don't deserve your gratitude. You were badly and critically, injured by the time I arrived. All I did was kill a few goblins."
"But you still saved my life," Bell insisted, raising his head. "If you didn't do that, I'd be dead. Besides, I was the one who stepped in front of that goblin. If I died, that'd be my fault wouldn't it?"
"Hmm… that doesn't really make me feel better," Kyra sighed before smiling maternally at the boy. "But you're a kind boy. I'm honored by your gratitude, but I'll be more grateful if the next time you need to save somebody you do it in a way the both of you get out safe."
She knew from experience that telling someone who was willing to take a hit from a monster to put their own life first without being asked to was like asking a rock not to be hard or telling a tree not to grow.
"I'll try."
"Hey, you two. Come here and warm yourselves by the fire," Kuda ordered. He sat in front of the fireplace. He had taken off his cloak and hung it on the corner of the mantle of the fireplace. He wore a black long sleeve shirt with a buttoned up collar and dark pants. His outfit outlined the well defined muscles he had built up from years of training and dungeon crawling. Strapped to his back was a sheathed greatsword with a wide blade. Again, Bell's eyes sparkled when he saw it.
"Is that your sword?" he asked as he hung the cloak Alystar gave him on the standing coat rack. Kyra did the same, revealing the dark sleeveless tank top she wore and the matching dark short pants. Strapped to her waist were six knives. "And are those your knives."
"If they weren't, then it'd be pretty weird if we had them, wouldn't it?" Kyra mused. She led Bell to the fireplace where Kuda sat on a rug by gently pushing his back with her hand.
"Why do you have six?"
"I have this special move, of sorts, I use against more powerful monsters occasionally."
"Oooh… can I see it?"
"Maybe when the time comes."
"Ahhh…" Bell pouted disappointedly. Again, Kyra couldn't help but find his pouting endearing. Actually, she couldn't help but find everything about this boy endearing. They sat at the rug with Kuda, having Bell sit between the two of them. Sitting in front of a fire at home, the three of them looked very much like a family. Despite the tender atmosphere, Bell felt uneasy. Not because of who he was with, but more because of where they were.
"Something wrong, Bell?" Kuda asked, noticing-or rather sensing-Bell's emotional unease. The boy had repeatedly looked around the living room and fiddled with his hands anxiously. At first he thought it was because he was with two strange adults, but it looked more like being here in the house was what was really bothering him. But why? This was his home. For what reason did he have to be bothered by it. "Is it us?"
"No," he shook his head. "It's just… it's the first time I've been back here since grandpa's funeral."
"Has it?" Kyra said. "You haven't been back at all? Not even to get your things?"
"Monica-san picked up some of my clothes for me to wear. I didn't want to come back here."
"Because this place-your home-was filled with memories of your life with your grandfather?" Kuda surmised.
"Yeah."
"You're now living with the mayor and his granddaughter, right?" Kyra said. "How do you like living with them? I trust they treat you well?"
"They're great. I am really thankful that they would let me in their home, but-"
"You can't just forget about your grandfather and move on, right?" Kuda finished, guessing what Bell was going to say. He, all of his familia, could relate to-on some level-to what Bell was feeling. It wasn't easy to get over the loss of someone you loved. It wasn't supposed to be.
"Yeah," he smiled sadly. "That must sound really childish, right?"
"Not particularly," Kuda said cooly, staring at the fire. "It's pretty natural, if you ask me. I was the same, when I lost my own mom and dad."
"You lost your parents?"
"Yes. You see, they were members of the same familia I am, so I'm what you might call a legacy member. They were both amazing and powerful adventurers, not to mention kind. I looked up to them a lot. No matter how great their enemy, or how great the risk, they always faced adversity head on… then, one day, the entire familia went on an expedition to the dungeon to conquer a new floor, a very dangerous endeavor, and they died to protect the rest of the expedition party when a powerful monster threatened to kill everyone. That expedition was a success, in the end. Only my parents died, which was pretty miraculous in its own right. Still, all the same, I was devastated."
"...I'm sorry." That was all Bell knew to say. He wasn't sure what else to say. It was his dream to go to Orario, join a familia, explore the dungeon, and have an encounter. However, while he acknowledged the possibility, he wasn't sure if he was ready to die for his dream. He probably wasn't. "Your parents were really strong, right?"
"Definitely," Kuda said with a big smile. "It may be their son saying this, but Seth and Solanna Zeldon were truly great adventurers. Dad was even a candidate to become the next captain and my mom was on her way to becoming one of the city's greatest mages."
"They sound amazing!" Bell said, wide eyed.
"Trust me, they were."
"And what about you Kyra-san? If it's okay to ask, were your parents adventurers, too?"
"It's always fine for you to ask," Kyra, who had been quietly observing Kuda and Bell's interaction, assured. "No, my father was a cook at a restaurant and my mother was a homemaker. One day, they both got sick and didn't get better. I was left alone on the streets when they died. I was a ten year old girl at the time."
"No one could take care of you…?" Bell asked, shocked that a ten year old girl could just be left on the street. It seemed far too cruel.
"Nobody came for me," Kyra shrugged, hesitating to continue. She decided to withhold the truth that after her parents death, the owner of the house they rented claimed her and took her in. Kyra, who had no other family, was truly happy to be taken in and not be left alone. Unfortunately, terrifyingly, on the very first night they began living together, he tried to molest her, and her terrified younger self, with her capable athletic prowess, escaped him by running from his house. Of course, he chased her, but she was always quick on her feet, even as an untrained child, and remained hidden from that fat pig. After that, she lived on the streets, developing a fear of adults for a while. She just didn't want to tell Bell all of that. Although, considering that was such a major part of her life, she wondered if should tell him someday. She noticed Kuda, who knew her full story, softly smiling at her assuredly "I lived on the streets for quite awhile. It wasn't easy, but I survived. Then some things happened and I ended up joining the Zeus Familia."
"Wow… so did joining help you get over your parents' death, Kyra-san?"
"That's… complicated, I'd say. Almost immediately after my parents died, I was forced to the streets. Everyday was a struggle for survival. Things like grief and sadness were a distraction. So, I had to put them out of my mind and focus on what was in front of me. In other words, I forgot about them."
"Forgot? You can just do that?"
"That was what I thought, back then, but now I realize that I was just ignoring my pain. I ignored it for a long time, but, Bell-kun, no matter how much you ignore your pain, it doesn't go away. It will fester like an untreated wound and hit you at your lowest point. It did to me, at least. When I joined the Zeus Familia, I felt dirty, like they were better off without an orphaned street rat like me. After all, they were the greatest familia in history. Still, I stayed and learned from our mentors and befriended Kuda, Alystar, and the rest of them. They became my new family." Kyra smiled warmly at Bell, who listened to her intently. She reached towards him and placed a hand on his head and brushed away the bangs in his eyes with her fingers. "I still miss my parents. Even now, when I think of them, I wish they were here with me, but I know how different my life would be if what had happened hadn't happened. I probably wouldn't have joined my familia and met my new family, and honestly, I didn't want that. I felt guilty about it, but I knew my parents wouldn't want me to dwell on their deaths for the rest of my life. It's not a sin to move forward after you lose someone. It is never wrong to love others. To simplify all of that, I'm not over my parents' deaths, but I'm not still obsessing over it, either."
Bell looked at Kyra in awe of her wisdom and her story. He was really beginning to understand that she was a really strong woman. Just like the lady heroes in his favorite epics.
"When I lost my parents," Kuda interjected. "I was not only devastated, but confused and angry. Angry that they died despite being so strong and confused at whether or not it was worth dying to explore the Dungeon. I was also afraid that I'd be left alone, but I wasn't. The Zeus Familia loved and cared for me the same as they always did. More even. Under their guidance, I decided to devote myself to train to become an adventurer even greater than them, so that I could find some understanding in their deaths."
"And did you?" Bel asked.
"Nope," Kuda admitted with a shameless grin, surprising both Bell and Kyra. Kuda totally broke the mood. "In fact, I gave up trying to understand pretty quickly, honestly."
"Huh?!"
"I mean, what I wanted to understand was what they were thinking, and save for dying or some kind of seance, I wasn't going to find out what a couple of dead people were thinking. Their lives were their lives. Every choice they made was unique to them and only them. When I realized that, I gave up trying to find questions. Besides, I wanted to find all that out to get over my sadness, but even if by some miracle I did figure that all out, they would still be dead. Understanding wasn't going to make me feel better. Wanna know what did?"
"What?" Bell asked, curiously.
"Knowing that I wasn't alone. That my mentors were looking out for me, and that I had people that cared for me. My friends. Hell, even my rivals." Kuda was careful to pick his next words. "I still miss my parents, even today, but I am who I am because they died, and like Kyra, I don't want to be different from who I am now. In the end, everyone deals with loss in their own way, but the single common factor we all share is that we all want to stop being sad and Kyra and I were lifted up by our familia."
"I see…" Bell looked down at the rug, thinking about everything they had told him. They both lost people that were everything to them, and they were sad about it, but their familia helped them by giving them love. In other words, they are who they are now because they lost their parents and they're okay with that. "Can I ask you both something?"
"Always," they both said.
"If grandpa hadn't died… does that mean I wouldn't have met any of you?"
Kyra and Kuda exchanged glances. The kid could ask surprisingly awkward questions.
"...At least, we likely wouldn't be meeting right now," Kyra admitted. They probably would still be far away, tracking that thing and keeping tabs on it, to not much avail, admittedly.
"Hmm… honestly, I can't say losing grandpa was worth it," Bell admitted, before smiling his usual smile at them. "But I'm glad I got to meet you both, as well as everybody in Zeus Familia."
Their eyes widened. It was only now that they realized how much they had wanted to see that smile. For the past ten years, they simply wanted to see the bright and innocent smile of this boy.
"Thank you," they both said quietly. It didn't bother them, that he said losing his grandfather wasn't worth meeting them. It still made them happier than words could describe to hear him say it was good to meet them.
"It's time to go," Kuda announced, lifting himself off the rug. Alystar gave them some time to talk. They talked, so now it was time to go and deal with the potential threat at hand.
"Okay," Kyra nodded, also getting up. Honestly, she'd rather stay with Bell, but considering that she was the one who brought up the idea that there could be a group of evil monster tamers conspiring to invade this village as well as the others in the surrounding area with an army of tamed monsters… it seemed a little too selfish to say she wanted to sit on the sidelines.
"You both are leaving?" Bell asked, trying to hide his disappointment despite knowing that they were only supposed to spend a little time with him. They just met, but in this very short time, he became enamored with the both of them in an almost familial way. It was hard to understand, and even harder to describe, but that was how he felt about the man and woman he just met. "So, um, is it really true about what you both and Alystar-san were talking about? Are people really sending monsters here to attack us?"
Bell had been listening to the three adventurers discuss the possibility of an attack. He didn't understand everything, but he understood the main point of their talk. People were sending monsters to attack the village. For a country kid like Bell, the idea was crazy. Not to mention terrifying. He was a boy with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of heroes and the tails that went along with them, so he had his own idea of heroics and goodness. But evil? He had difficulty understanding and comprehending the idea of people being able to control monsters and using them to kill people.
"We can't be sure," Kuda, who somehow used his magic to extinguish the flame he created, said. "It's just a theory, but it was Kyra's theory. And she is never wrong."
"Never?"
"He's exaggerating, Bell-kun," Kyra interjected. "Of course I can be wrong… but about this, I think I'm right."
"You think these people sent those goblins to attack us?"
"I do. The way they acted was different from their normal behavior."
Bell thought about it. Certainly, he wasn't a monster expert, but at least with goblins he knew some things. "I think you are right, Kyra-san."
"You'll find yourself saying that a lot," Kuda mused, making Kyra smack him.
"Why do you say that, dear?" She asked as a tactician who derived her plans based on gathering as much knowledge as she could. Even if Bell was a kid, he was still a village resident. Plus, as a farm boy, he was probably familiar with the village layout to an extent. If nothing else, the old man likely dragged him around from place to place. Anything he knew could help her get a clearer understanding of things.
"Well, grandpa and I used to go into town to sell our crops. Sometimes, we would see some goblins scurrying on the outskirts of the village, but they wouldn't attack us and ran away. However, one time, when I was playing by myself in the mountains, a group of goblins ganged up on me and beat me up. It was scary and painful, and I thought I would die, but then, grandpa swooped in and killed all of the goblins and saved me. Just like you did, Kyra-san." He added as if just noticing the similarity.
"I see," Kyra muttered. She was bothered that Bell was assaulted by another group of goblins-even if it was a long time ago-but she couldn't focus on that. Bell's story was evident of irregular behavior among the local goblin population. They wouldn't attack Bell when he was with the old man, but they would when he was alone. However, the goblins from today did attack despite the cemetary being filled. The people, unused to monster attacks, would be scared of them, but goblins, not being the smartest of monsters, didn't really comprehend the fear that they bring to normal people. They, at least understanding their own weaknesses, chose to attack only when they knew they could win.
The coward's mentality.
"That's why it doesn't make sense to me," Bell continued. "The goblins never attack crowds, but they did today. Also, I never heard of them attacking the cemetery before. Not even once."
"I see," Kyra nodded.
"Also, now that I think about it, I may have seen something weird in their eyes."
"Weird?" Kuda and Kyra said.
"It might just be my imagination, and I only looked for a second, but when I saw their eyes, I thought I may have seen something like a silvery glint. The ones that attacked me when I was younger didn't have that."
"A silvery glint in their eyes, huh?" Kyra whispered. It was possible that that was some kind of sign of taming magic being used on the little creatures. She swiftly killed the goblins. She was so angry at the time, she didn't notice any abnormalities in them at the time. She grinned both self deprecatingly and proudly. She, a top class, highly experienced, sharp minded adventurer failed to see what a young, scared, and weak boy saw. And she was proud of him for it. It was possible that he may have imagined it, but she didn't think so. He knew exactly what he saw. She placed her hand on his snow white hair, and rubbed it lovingly. "Thank you, Bell-kun. You really helped me."
"You're welcome," he said, blushing and smiling. He was very pleased with himself at being able to help a real adventurer. Even more so because it was the woman who saved him.
"Unfortunately, I'm even more sure of there being an outside force that's sending monsters to attack this village."
"Oh…" Bell's mood suddenly deflated and he began to feel really nervous. "Are we-this village-in danger?"
"Yes," Kuda said bluntly, as he started for the door. Bell's mood became even worse. Kuda stopped just inches away from the door, keeping his back to Bell. "However, do not fear. Whatever else may happen, I-no, we-will destroy every monster in our path."
Bell's eyes widened in awe. Kuda wasn't promising that no one would get hurt, or that everything would be okay. He couldn't do that when he knew so little about their enemies capabilities. Still, no matter what, he would destroy the enemy before him.
"That's a promise from the captain of the Zeus Familia."